Apple Pay has officially begun rolling out in India, bringing Apple’s payment service to the world’s most populous country after years of delays. The launch starts with Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private-sector lender, but Apple is entering a payments market where cards are far from the dominant force.
Eligible Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard customers can now add their cards to Apple Wallet and use them for online purchases and contactless payments. RuPay cards are not supported at launch, and availability at physical stores will initially depend on whether individual payment terminals and acquiring providers have enabled Apple Pay. (TechCrunch)
Apple Is Entering UPI Territory
India presents Apple with a challenge it does not face in many Western markets. Digital payments in the country are dominated by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which allows consumers to transfer money directly between bank accounts, typically by scanning a QR code.
Apple Pay remains fundamentally card-based. Banks and payment providers therefore need to integrate with Apple’s system individually, making expansion more complicated than simply entering a market where contactless card infrastructure is already dominant. (TechCrunch)
Apple says the service will eventually be accepted by millions of Indian merchants, including Blinkit, Croma, Ixigo, Reliance brands, Tata 1mg and Zomato. Payment companies including Paytm, Razorpay, PayU, Pine Labs and Worldline have also worked to enable acceptance. (TechCrunch)
Major Banks Are Missing at Launch
The initial rollout remains relatively limited. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card are not participating at launch as negotiations continue over commercial terms.
According to people familiar with the negotiations cited by TechCrunch, Apple is seeking approximately 0.2% of each transaction. That represents a substantial portion of the roughly 0.4% to 0.5% margin available within the payments layer, making Apple’s economics an important point of negotiation with banks. (TechCrunch)
Acceptance may also be inconsistent initially. An Apple Pay transaction could work at one terminal while failing at another depending on whether the payment provider or acquiring bank behind that terminal supports the service.
India Is Becoming Increasingly Important to Apple
The launch is about more than payments. India has become an increasingly important part of Apple’s global strategy as the company expands iPhone sales, manufacturing and its physical retail presence in the country.
Apple accounted for 28% of India’s smartphone market by value in 2025, according to Counterpoint Research data cited by TechCrunch. India also now produces roughly a quarter of the world’s iPhones. (TechCrunch)
That growing base of iPhone owners gives Apple Pay an attractive audience despite UPI’s dominance. Indian iPhone customers also tend to sit toward the premium end of the smartphone market, making them potentially valuable credit-card users for banks.
Apple Pay does not need to replace UPI to become commercially meaningful. Even a relatively small share of India’s enormous payments market could create another source of services revenue while making the Apple ecosystem more complete for Indian customers.
The more interesting question is whether Apple can persuade additional banks to join while competing with a payment system that is already deeply embedded in everyday life.In India, Apple Pay is not introducing digital payments. It is entering one of the world’s most mature digital-payment markets and trying to find its place inside it.